The Hot & the Bothered
by flowerkitty
Summary: Captured and alone, will Phobos break Hay Lin?


**One**

It was an ambush she shouldn't have been on.

Hay Lin had been struck with a feverish cold for the last few days, but the timing of the ambush couldn't have been worse. She had spent the last four days at home, under a pile of blankets and attempting to sweat out the particularly nasty fever, but had thus far had no luck in breaking the illness.

"Are you okay Hay Lin?" Will's brow was furrowed as she studied the air guardian, her warm chocolate eyes sweeping over Hay Lin's pale figure and lingering on the clammy sheen of sweat on her forehead.

"I'm fine." Hay Lin forced a smile, waving off their leader's concern despite how her head swam and her skin ached with the heat of the fever. Will looked doubtful, but Will knew as much as Hay Lin that they desperately needed the numbers for this ambush and she chose not to say anything. At this current moment, Will was in full leader mode and would have to take Hay Lin's word for it—even if she doubted it. The guardians and the rebels in their plan were relying on Hay Lin to send a message on the wind to summon the back up troops that were further hiding in the ancient city's walls. It was only with her word that Caleb and the men hiding further along would know to join the fray, thus adding a second wave of surprise attacks to their ambush. Their goal was to rescue the prisoners of war that had been held for many years, and this may be their only chance to save those men and women. It was a risky operation, and one that Taranee had voiced her doubts on.

"It must be a trap," Taranee had concluded early on in the planning of the ambush.

"It might be," Caleb agreed, "but it also will be the only opportunity we have to rescue those men and women." Caleb's words and reasoning remained to be stubborn, and eventually he had managed to sway an uncertain Will to his side.

"It's life or death for these people," Will agreed, "we are their only hope to survive."

And so their plan developed and eventually took physical form. The guardians and a few of Caleb's hand chosen men would trigger the initial ambush when the envoy reached the town square. It was an advantageous ground because it was far enough from the castle that Phobos's guards would not be able to supply back up rapidly and the underground tunnels of the ancient city where the rest of the rebels were waiting offered them a great element of surprise.

"You look like crap Hay Hay." Irma offered consolingly as they took their post atop one of the town houses.

"Thank you Irma." The air guardian grinned, used to Irma's good-natured jabs by now. Irma grinned back as they waited for Will's cue, the adrenaline coursing through their bodies making both of them restless as they waited for the brawl to begin.

"But seriously, you should have stayed in bed." Irma said in a low tone, her deep teal eyes sharp as they surveyed the town.

"I know, I'm going straight back to bed after this." Hay Lin agreed tiredly.

"Do you still have those alien print bed sheets from when you were twelve?" There was a moment of embarrassed silence.

"Aliens are always cool Irma." Hay Lin assured her best friend happily. Irma giggled, but the two guardians quickly sobered up, as there was a pink flash of energy.

"There's the signal." Irma glanced at Hay Lin, who nodded and with that, the water and air guardian were off to join the fray.

The ambush went wrong almost immediately.

There were far more numbers of Phobos's guards than the guardians had expected, and too soon they were overwhelmed by the swarms of henchmen. It was all they could do to protect the rebels, who were now fighting for their lives. The prisoners were trying their best to assist, but many were bound, or malnourished to the point of being a hindrance. Worse yet, was Lord Cedric, who was keeping Cornelia and Will completely occupied as they attempted to subdue the giant snake.

"Watch out Will!" Cornelia shouted as Cedric swung his tail around, clipping their leader and sending her sprawling. Will landed hard atop one of the town houses, and stayed down for the time being. The earth guardian plunged her hand into the hard ground, and the earth began to tremble beneath her as Cornelia furrowed her brow in concentration. Tree roots whipped up violently from the earth, flailing around before shooting towards Cedric. Cedric roared in frustration as the tree roots wound their way around his thick trunk and pinned him down. Despite Cornelia's intense concentration in restraining Cedric, the giant snake was too strong and broke free of the earth guardian's hold.

"Why don't you pick on someone else?" Hay Lin swooped in from the air, taunting Cedric to distract him from grabbing at an exhausted Cornelia. Cedric hissed angrily and lunged instead for Hay Lin, who slipped in and out of his deadly lumbering grasp easily.

"Take this!" She shouted, sending an impressive sized ball of air hurtling at Cedric's face. The snake was blindsided and the swirling ball of air crashed into the side of his face. Cedric toppled over with a mighty roar, the impact of his body falling to the ground sent tremors through the earth.

"Thanks Hay Lin," Cornelia was back in again, weaving the tree roots more firmly over the giant snake while she had the chance. Will was revived and in the fray, assisting Taranee and Irma as they held off a hoard of guards who had just arrived. Hay Lin quickly left Cornelia to go and join the other girls. But the guards just kept coming and it was overwhelming their defenses.

"Where are they coming from?" Will shouted over the clash of the battle, scanning the battlefield desperately to keep them from a losing battle.

"I'll fly up to find out." Hay Lin offered, sending a miniature tornado through a new stream of guards, effectively scattering them and violently knocking them over like dominos. Will hesitated, but she also understood that out of all of them, Hay Lin was the fastest flier.

"Fine. As soon as you see where the guards are coming from, send for the reinforcements." Will agreed curtly, as she kicked a guard in the face and bounced off of him to land a kick to another. Hay Lin immediately shot into the air, her wings beating furiously as she willed herself to go faster, faster and faster still. Soon, the entire battlefield unfurled before her as she flew higher. She avoided the thick gray smoke clouds coming from houses that had caught aflame during the battle, but her sharp eyes sought the sources of the new guards. Hay Lin scanned the battle and then… There! It had appeared to be a lumberyard, but as far as she could tell, the logs had actually disguised small bunkers, to hide the extra guards for a counter ambush!

Hay Lin quickly created a small sphere of air, mustering as much of the wind as she could in the small sphere. The fever was rapidly catching up with her as her adrenaline wore off and suddenly the air guardian was exhausted as she whispered into the wind.

"Counter ambush planned, calling reinforcements to help fall back." It was a call Hay Lin knew she had to make on her own. Will would want everyone out safely, and the air guardian knew they would be too overwhelmed soon to do that. She pushed the wind ball out gently, before watching it speed away in the direction of Caleb and the reinforcements. The next plan was to get down to Will, and let her know what was coming their way.

The large ball of crackling purple energy came too fast for Hay Lin to block it. The purple energy crashed into her and pain seared through her body. Suddenly she was falling… The air guardian landed hard in the courtyard of cluster of houses, her fall only broken by the roof of a shed as she tumbled to the ground and lay there for a long, horrible moment.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down air guardian." Dazed and in considerable pain, Hay Lin was jolted by that drawling voice that belonged to none other than Prince Phobos himself. He was dressed in his favored dark robes, his long blond hair neatly divided into long strands with not a hair out of place. Scrambling up, Hay Lin ignored the pain that flared all over her body and faced the prince, trying to keep calm.

"I don't suppose you didn't go and send a message for reinforcements did you?" Phobos asked pleasantly, as if they were conversing about the weather. "That would ruin the fun time we all seem to be having." Hay Lin said nothing, trying not to even blink as she and Phobos stared each other down. Much to her annoyance, there only seemed to be a bored indifference on his features as he eyed her. It infuriated her that Phobos didn't think she was a threat, and he knew it.

"Who is your stylist Phobos? You might want to talk to him about a wardrobe change after all these years." Hay Lin taunted before hurling a blast of sheer wind power at the prince. Phobos didn't even flinch as he raised his hand and a beam of energy shot through her windblast, dispelling it. The air guardian didn't have time to react as Phobos shot another blast of energy; the fever made her sluggish and Hay Lin received the brunt force of the blast. The air guardian went flying intro the air, coming to stop only as she impacted against the opposite wall with a sickening thud. Hay Lin cried out in pain as she impacted against the stone, falling hard to the ground in a crumpled heap. Pain seared through her skull, and she could feel the warm ooze of blood trickle down her scalp.

The air guardian was barely conscious as Phobos approached her in a languidly taunting fashion, his piercing blue gray eyes fixated on her pale features. Hay Lin groaned and struggled to sit up. Her arms trembled so badly she couldn't support herself and collapsed to the ground, her head swimming dangerously.

"How pitiful." Phobos drawled, stopping beside the air guardian's fallen figure. Hay Lin steeled herself to glare at the prince, but found she was unable to concentrate on him as he vision shifted in and out. Darkness tinged at her eyesight and all Hay Lin could see was the infuriating smirk on Phobos's lips as he looked down at her.

"The air guardian proves herself to be the weakest link once more." Phobos sneered, ignoring Hay Lin's hateful glare as she opened her mouth to defend herself.

"You're wrong." She'd meant it to come out stronger, but even to Hay Lin's ears it sounded like a meager plea. Phobos chuckled darkly; smoothly he leaned down next to her fallen form. Hay Lin could hear the whisper of fabric as he came closer to her and never had she felt so helpless. The sky was spinning, Hay Lin could not discern pain from any other feeling, and she was falling to the darkness fast.

"You know, air guardian…" Phobos whispered, his breath hot on her neck and Hay Lin could feel the ghost of his lips against her skin, "I wonder how long you'll take to break." Shivers coursed down her spine, but Hay Lin had no time to wonder at the prince's words as the world went dark and she slipped into unconsciousness.


End file.
